Secrets, Lies, and Frost
by DraconicBeauty
Summary: Loki seeks out Tony Stark to help him with a project that he won't admit to. What happens when enemies are brought together with an intellectual challenge and a huge secret? Rated M to be on the safe side


**Yes, I am posting this. Why, because my friend made me. Please be kind but honest if you critique.**

_**I will only post this once. I own nothing. Loki, The Avengers, Tony Stark, and anything else that is recognizable as not my own idea obviously does not belong to me and I write this with love and stand to make absolutely nothing from this story.**_

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**Prologue**

Tony groaned aloud as a familiar accented voice called his name, rather urgently in fact. He rolled over and immediately wished he hadn't. "What, Jarvis?"

"Sir, I must insist you remove yourself from your bedroom at once. We have intruders," the AI replied. "I have been trying to awaken you from your inebriated state for the last 5 minutes."

Regretting every movement and swearing off tequila and 21 year old women for the rest of his life, Tony jumped out of bed and went to grab the wrist bands for his newest suit but found they weren't were he had left them. Something about that made his blood run cold. "How many, Jarvis?" When his system didn't answer, he knew something horrendous had happened in his tower.

"Funny thing about your technology, Stark," said a silky voice from just inside Tony's closed balcony doors, "it really doesn't hold up well to magic."

Tony turned slowly on his heel to gaze at the man who was twirling one of his suit's wrist bands around a long finger. He wanted to shake his head. There, in the flesh and green and black leather, was Loki. The same Loki who was supposed to be heavily guarded in Asgard, but oh no, he was standing in Tony's bedroom and a pair of elephants was doing the samba in Tony's head. All in all a lovely way to start the day, if he did say so himself. "What are you doing here?"

The smirk on Loki's handsome face fell a fraction but he quickly recovered and with a quick flick of his wrist, there were seven of him in the room. "You don't plan to beg for your life, man of iron?" With a foreboding chuckle, he tossed the wrist band over the balcony, leaving Tony at his complete mercy.

Scrubbing a hand down his face while keeping his eyes on the Loki he knew to be real, Tony sunk down on the edge of the bed, making sure none of the duplicates had his back, just in case the god decided to play dirty. "Not really, no. If you want to kill me, go right ahead. It's either you or the hang over and honestly, taking a piece of you with me would be much more fun."

Tony could almost feel the heat of the glare Loki gave him as he snapped his fingers, doing away with his doppelgangers and stalking up to the Avenger sitting on the bed, picking him up by the throat, squeezing just hard enough to make breathing difficult, but not cut it off completely. "Listen to me, you insignificant Migardian speck. I have need of you, but if not you, I'm certain I can find another for my purposes. I am your better and you would do well to remember that," he sneered as he slammed Tony against a nearby wall.

Clearing his throat as best as he could and speaking in as clear a voice as he could manage with Loki's long fingers wrapped around his throat, Tony replied, "You need me, huh? _That's_ not something I hear everyd-" His sarcastic retort was cut off by harder pressure that made him wheeze. "Okay, whatever may I do for you, asshole?"

Loki released the man and watched him slide down the wall a bit with a roll of the eyes. "You are, as much as I am loathe to admit this, one of the smartest Midgardians I have had the displeasure of meeting."

Still rubbing his sore throat, Tony blew Loki a kiss. "Love you too, Snookums. Two points of concern here. Why are you not in Asgard under house arrest or whatever the hell that was and why are you here?" As Loki approached him again, Tony backed up away from the wall, closer to the door, knowing he stood no chance against a god without his suit. "Oh, and what the shit did you do to my AI?"

Instead of attacking him as expected, Loki elegantly draped himself across Tony's burgundy chaise, as if completely at ease rather than homicidal and more than a little likely insane. "Come now, you must know the Norse pantheon by now. You spend enough time with Thor. Mischief, Stark, is the answer to all of your questions. That is my realm of expertise." Tony just stared at him until he sighed and relented. "I'm here because I need your help. There are… things I need to do that I cannot do while in Asgard and if anyone can help, it would be a, what did you call yourself? Oh yes, 'genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.' Besides, you will not allow Thor to know."

"Your brother, Thor? Big, happy Golden Retriever Thor? What are you up to that he can't know." asked Tony. He was dubious at best. "I would think if anyone could help you it would be another Asgardian."

Loki gave him a pained look. "Thor Odinson is not my brother!" He ran his fingers through his dark hair and gazed out the window just before answering in the most straight forward way Tony had ever heard, "There are things very few know. Thor does not, nor can he keep his mouth shut. You, Tony Stark, are intelligent and can help me do what I need to do, what I can't do in Asgard for many reasons. Also, if you prove to be as untrustworthy as Thor, you are expendable."

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_Reviews are appreciated, folks. I hope you're enjoying._


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